Unlocked
by Lily Ophelia
Summary: The Time Lord was running as he had never run before.


Unlocked

The Time Lord was running as he had never run before.

His hearts thumped against his ribcage in a furious staccato, and his breath came out of his mouth in short gasps that burned his lungs and sent pain through the muscles of his stomach. He was tired, but he couldn't slow down. Not yet.

He glanced up into the burning orange sky and caught a glimpse of _Pazithi Gallifreya_ looming down over him in its copper colored glory. As it bobbed up and down in his field of vision, it seemed to mock him.

Once upon a time he had thought the moon a comforting presence in his life, but now he found it smothering and overbearing.

At the wave of anger that washed over him, the Time Lord felt a twinge of his conscious and something he might—_might_— have called shame. But he pushed those feelings aside, and forced himself to run faster, focusing all his attention on the maze of twisting streets ahead of him. He knew where he was going, if he could only make it there before—

Rounding the corner of the street he had been sprinting down, he came to a sudden stop in front of a large stone building with sparkling crystal windows and the title "National Museum" written across in Old High Gallifreyan.

As he caught his breath, the pounding of his hearts in his ears faded to a dull roar. Over it, in the far off distance, he could hear the rattling footsteps of armored guards. Fear coursed through him, and he bounded up the steps. With shaking hands, he took out a small, thin, silver screwdriver from his pocket, and after a quick scan of the door, he began to hack the settings.

"C'mon," he muttered to himself. He could feel the earth beneath his feet begin to tremble from the approaching army. "Why won't you work?"

After a couple of tense moments, a small white light appeared at the end of the screwdriver and the setting slipped into place.

"Gotcha," he whispered triumphantly as he pushed his way in, crossing the smooth stone floor in quick strides. Without a glance at any of the exhibits he knew so well, he took the stairs of the grand staircase two at a time. By the time he reached the fifth floor, he was out of breath again, but it hardly mattered for he had found exactly what he was looking for.

Quickly making his way through the rows of forgotten and obsolete time machines, he tried the doors of each one, knowing his screwdriver was useless. Time machine after time machine, he pushed and pulled, but not one budged. Five floors below him, he heard shouts and the clatter of metal boots on the stairs. Despair began well up and overtake him, but he pushed it back down and continued to push on doors. Just when he had almost given up hope, he pushed on the door of a small Type 40, and it opened with a gentle click.

The Time Lord's hearts jumped into his mouth as he entered through the double doors. He closed them behind him, and letting out a relieved sigh, looked up into the interior of the ship he was about to steal.

The entire thing was derelict, and falling apart: the walls were tarnished and there were bits of junk lying all over the floor. In the center, the time rotor was silent on its pedestal, but the Time Lord could feel the energy there, dormant and waiting.

Waiting for him.

Slowly he walked over to the console. The terror he had felt while running had almost completely vanished, even though he could hear the guards outside. They had become a faint buzzing in the back of his mind, overtaken by the awe and wonder he felt at being inside a—what was it called?

Ah, yes. Time and Relative Dimension In Space.

He looked down at the console. Its knobs and buttons were coated in a layer of dust and the lights scattered across it were out. Barely breathing, he gently placed his hand on its surface.

Its response was instantaneous: the lights turned on, a chorus of beeping noises along with them. From the center column, a soft hum joined in, growing louder and louder until the time rotor started to move gently, emitting a glow of soft blue light. Warmth seeped into the Time Lord's fingers as the TARDIS read his biological makeup, giving him the ability to fly her. Oh, yes, it most definitely was a "her."

He looked up into the blue light of the time rotor and murmured softly,

"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever known."

The TARDIS answered with a warning bell, jarring him out of his reverie. Coming to his senses, he became suddenly aware of the presence of guards outside the doors and the sound of his lock being picked.

"Right," he said determinedly, and pushed the gold-knobbed lever closest to him, following it with pushing a couple of buttons, and finishing with a crisscross-y looking device. The TARDIS roared to life with a _vworp, vworp, vworp, vworp_, the time rotor pumping up and down with increasing speed.

"Yes!" The Time Lord crowed. "C'mon old girl, you can do it!"

The TARDIS let out a groan, and suddenly, he found himself clutching the console to remain standing upright as the TARDIS lurched sideways and then forwards, almost pitching him headfirst into the time rotor column.

He laughed in delight, the thrill of adventure taking hold of him. He looked up into the scanner and found they were no longer on Gallifrey. In fact, he had no idea where they were.

And he didn't care.

As the TARDIS ripped through the fabric of time and space, his conscious crept up on him again, like a ghostly hand on his shoulder. He merely shrugged it away, and turned his thoughts to the planets and galaxies he wanted to explore first.

"Perhaps the Milky Way," he said grandly, plotting his course. "I've always liked the name of that one.

But it seemed the TARDIS had a different idea, because she spun off in the opposite direction throwing him sideways.

"No! No! You're going the wrong way!" he shouted, frantically pressing buttons and pulling levers. "You were supposed to turn right at that last planet!"

But, the TARDIS just _vworped_ in response, and ignored his protests.

She knew exactly where he needed to go.


End file.
